The Early Pioneer Greats Of Wedding Photography
The Early Pioneer Greats of Wedding Photography
I was fortunate to have known and studied with some of the greatest wedding photographers of all time. I call them the three Amigos, Bill Stockwell, Rocky Gunn and Monte Zucker.
There are many other great wedding photographers out there, but I am dedicating this to the early pioneer greats who changed the face of wedding photography from the cookie cutter style to what wedding photography is today.
Look at any of the great wedding photographers today and you will see just about all of them influenced by Monte Zucker, Rocky Gunn and Bill Stockwell. All of them had different styles but they changed the future of wedding photography to what it is today.
Bill stockwell - Known also as the misty messiah started conducting seminars worldwide that included some of the most prestigious photographers of their time. Even Monte Zucker was one of his students. Although their styles were completely different, both helped shape wedding photography what it is today.
Rocky Gunn - Rocky was a legend. He took classical portraits in wedding photography one step farther. He added motion and dance movements to his beautiful photographs. He would bring the bride and groom to the beach or have mountains in the background adding a very romantic flair to the photograph. Rocky would also use gels to get different lighting effects, something he would learn on the movie sets. Rocky was also an actor and acted in some of Charlie Chan's movies and on the Kung Fu television series.
Monte Zucker - "I don't photograph the world as it is; I photograph the world as I would like it to be," Monte Zucker once said. " Some photographers shoot 5,000 pictures at a wedding and pull out 100 decent shots. With Monte, it was about making every shot special. Every portrait meant something. Every time he went out, he was at his best.
He never settled." He took Classic Portraiture to perfection and had a tremendous influence on the generations of photographers that followed.
Too many young photographers are unfamiliar with Bill Stockwell, Rocky Gunn and Monte Zucker and their stories need to be told. In the following pages I will try to describe what I knew about each one and how they've influenced me and many other photographers. I met and talked to them at conventions and their seminars or workshops they were giving. I've admired their beautiful photographs and witnessed how each one changed the course of wedding photography.
One thing they all had in common was their belief and passion in what they were doing. And their charisma, charm and salesmanship is also what helped take them to the top in their field. Their beautiful photographs were the result of their passion and desire for perfection.
Left to Right - Monte Zucker, Rocky Gunn and Bill Stockwell when Bill and Monte competed in a heavily touted battle in the boxing ring at Caesar’s Palace in 1981. With Rocky Gunn as the referee.
Special thanks to Bill Stockwell of http://www.mauiweddingphotographer.com/ for the use of photo